Teaching stewardship through trail work and outdoor play
This summer Sacramento Creek Ranch played host to a new youth program aimed at introducing local students to the world of trail stewardship and teaching tools skills and techniques.
The Teens on Trail program led by longtime local partner organization Mosquito Range Heritage Initiative (MRHI), aimed to inspire and educate young teenagers in Park County about ways to steward and care for natural areas as well as a peek into potential career pathways in stewardship and conservation fields.
Each Tuesday, local students with the Boys and Girls Club of th
e High Rockies (BGCHR) traveled to trailheads and recreation sites across the county to help restore damaged trail segments, clear downed trees, remove slash, repair fences, construct rock walls, and place trail signage.
During their July 7th workday at Sacramento Creek Ranch, the teen crew learned about wildfire mitigation techniques in high alpine forests and helped remove dry fuels and slash from a half-acre area of forest near the Hershey Trail. After a hard morning of work, there was of course plenty of time left to play – the teen crew enjoyed the water in Sacramento Creek and practiced shelter building with logs in the forest.
Later that month, the adult MRHI Trail Crew returned and teamed with staff from the Coalition for the Upper South Platte to chip slash piles both at Sacramento Creek Ranch and throughout local neighborhoods near Fairplay.
Over the course of six weeks this summer the students in the Teens on Trails program, accompanied by experienced MRH
I Trail Crew staff and Education staff, put in over 90 hours of community service work on publicly accessible trails in the South Park region.
On August 4th, Mountain Area Land Trust hosted the teen crew at SCR one final time to celebrate their stewardship achievements and hard work. MRHI and BGCHR staff recognized the students’ accomplishments during an end of season ceremony, provided lunch, and made time for the crew to enjoy outdoor games and shelter building.
MALT thanks Mosquito Range Heritage Initiative and the Boys and Girls Club of the High Rockies for the vital role they play in providing educational and outdoor learning opportunities to local kids in South Park. Strong local partnerships are crucial to MALT’s work in the region and are helping teach the next generation to care for the natural places where their families work and play.
